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Following the 40-mile Jesus Trail, from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, a lone hiker finds intense hospitality from locals of all faiths

By

Tara Isabella Burton

Updated Dec. 24, 2017 9:47 a.m. ET

IT took five minutes into my pilgrimage for somebody to offer me free food. Leaving my inn, a converted 19th-century mansion in the Israeli town of Nazareth, I’d turned the corner to make the initial ascent toward the Franciscan Mensa Church. The church stands on the site where Christ was said to have dined with his apostles just after his resurrection. A smiling man with a lazy eye, standing by the trail head, decided I should dine, too.